Samsung patents image sensor design with specific pixel layout
Samsung has filed a patent for an image sensor structure that arranges four pixel regions in a square matrix. The design uses specific trenches and doped regions to isolate these pixels and connect them electrically, allowing light to enter from the back of the chip.
In the filing’s own words
An image sensor includes a substrate including first and second pixel regions adjacent to each other, the substrate including first and second surfaces opposite to each other, a pixel isolation pattern in the substrate to define the first and second pixel regions, a transfer gate on the first surface of the substrate of the first pixel region, a floating diffusion region adjacent to a side of the transfer gate, a first ground dopant region adjacent to the first surface of the substrate in the first pixel region, and a second ground dopant region adjacent to the first surface of the substrate in the second pixel region. A bottom surface of the first ground dopant region is located at a lower level than a bottom surface of the floating diffusion region.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. An image sensor, comprising: a substrate comprising a first surface and a second surface opposing the first surface; a unit pixel region comprising first to fourth pixel regions arranged in a 2×2 matrix, the first to fourth pixel regions being sequentially positioned in a clockwise direction in plan view; a first insulating layer formed on the first surface; a first isolation trench encircling the first to fourth pixel regions in plan view; a second isolation trench located at the center of the unit pixel region in plan view; a first doped region on the first pixel region; a second doped region on the second pixel region; a connection pattern extending in a first direction in cross-sectional view and electrically connecting the first doped region and the second doped region; a first gate electrode formed on the first pixel region; a first contact vertically overlapping the first gate electrode and electrically coupled to the first gate electrode; and a second contact vertically overlapping the second isolation trench and electrically coupled to the connection pattern, wherein the first and second contacts are formed on the first insulating layer, wherein a height of the first contact in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction in cross-sectional view differs from a height of the second contact in the second direction in cross-sectional view, wherein each of the first to fourth pixel regions comprises a photoelectric conversion region, and wherein the image sensor is configured to receive light from the second surface.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
- Official title
- IMAGE SENSOR
- Publication number
- US20260282584A1
- Application number
- 19670857
- Filed
- May 7, 2026
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Inventors
- 4
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
H10F 39/807 Electricity & electronicsH10F 39/011 Electricity & electronicsH10F 39/182 Electricity & electronicsH10F 39/199 Electricity & electronicsH10F 39/8053 Electricity & electronicsH10F 39/8063 Electricity & electronicsMore from Samsung in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.